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1995-1996 index
Fuller named senior fellow at Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Fuller, the Distinguished Professor of Education and director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., was the superintendent of that city's school system from 1991 through 1995. Fuller implemented a number of reforms during his tenure, including a rigorous curriculum, the development of school-to-work programs, expanded decentralized and site-based budgeting. These and other reforms helped produce improvements in student participation, reading scores and standardized test performance. He also developed a plan for accountability based on student performance. His success in working with elected and appointed officials, students, parents, teachers, administrators, businesspeople, church leaders and community organizations meshes well with the Annenberg Institute's focus on uniting all the strands that influence school reform.
The Annenberg Institute's Senior Fellows Program gathers leaders in education reform who combine hands-on school experience with rigorous theoretical and research grounding. Senior fellows pursue their own work while simultaneously helping to shape the direction of the Annenberg Institute. Each year, the senior fellows and Professor Theodore R. Sizer, the Annenberg Institute's director, set an agenda for their combined work. This year they will explore how schools work together; the shape, purpose and design of clusters of schools; and the implications these issues have for district and state policies.
Senior fellows serve terms of one to three years. Current senior fellows of the Annenberg Institute include Deborah Meier and Dennis Littky.
Meier, a McArthur Fellow, has become one of the most widely recognized figures in education. She started the renowned Central Park East Secondary School in East Harlem, which has become a beacon for a 23-member school network, the Small Schools Collaborative. Meier's recent book, The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons From a Small School in Harlem, documents the difficult path to success taken by students and teachers. She is now president of the Center for Collaborative Education in New York City, as well as acting chair of the New York Network for School Renewal Consultation Committee.
Littky, for 13 years the principal of Thayer High School in Winchester, N.H., has drawn national attention both for the success of his push for improved schooling and for the controversy those changes engendered. Hailed for his educational innovations, such as a satellite television-based teacher-training series and unique business-school partnerships, Littky has now begun another venture: the creation of a new state high school emphasizing learning out in the community and incorporating an educational television network and a leadership center.
The Institute was created in October 1993 as a semi-autonomous, permanent unit at Brown University with initial funding of $5 million from an anonymous source. Longer-range support is derived from a $50-million gift from the Annenberg Foundation. All of the Institute's funding is spent on programs directly under its sponsorship or on joint projects with collaborating organizations; the Institute does not make individual grants to outside organizations or programs.
For further information, contact Ken White at 401/863-1375.
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